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21st out of 34 books
—
10 voters
Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn
by
Larry Colton
In Native American tradition, a warrior gained honor and glory by "counting coup" -- touching his enemy in battle and living to tell the tale. This is a modern story of...
COUNTING COUP
In this extraordinary work of journalism, Larry Colton journeys into the world of Montana's Crow Indians and follows the struggles of a talented, moody, charismatic young woman named Sharon L...more
COUNTING COUP
In this extraordinary work of journalism, Larry Colton journeys into the world of Montana's Crow Indians and follows the struggles of a talented, moody, charismatic young woman named Sharon L...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
October 1st 2001
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published September 21st 2000)
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Sad, depressing story of the year in the life of a young Native American woman, who is a talented basketball player but faces strong negative forces in her life. Author can be too intrusive as the narrator sometimes, but that is my personal bias against first person journalism.
Colton REALLY does an honest portrayal. I'm sure it was a bit too honest for his subjects.
The book is worth the time because it addresses bigger questions about how one can escape being born into circumstances that are les...more
Colton REALLY does an honest portrayal. I'm sure it was a bit too honest for his subjects.
The book is worth the time because it addresses bigger questions about how one can escape being born into circumstances that are les...more
This is a fascinating book on so many levels. First, as a former high school girl's basketball coach(assist.) I can truly relate to everything involving the coach, the girls and the game. But in addition, I was intrigued of the way the author, Larry Colton was able to "get inside" this rather "closed" society and discover the many, challenges facing those living on Native American reservations. The courage displayed by this remarkable girl was astounding as she battled high expectations by her t...more
This was a very revealing story about basketball on the Crow Indian Reservation. When I was young I lived on a cattle ranch on the Crow Reservation so this book was especially meaningful to me. When my parent divorced I moved off the ranch and to a small town outside of Billings, MT. Basketball was my sport in high school and I played against Hardin, the Lodge Grass Indians, Shepard (with the cattle feed lot right outside the gymnasium doors), Roundup, etc. So this book brought back many memorie...more
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This is a fascinating story of a high school girl's basketball team in Hardin, Montana, on the edge of the Crow Reservation. It gives real life stories of the girls on the team and the trials and challenges that the Native American girls face in their personal and family lives. These girls are wonderful basketball players with great potential but it is extremely difficult for them to go on to college and succeed "off the reservation." You will discover "why" when you read this book. We read this...more
In the epilogue, author, Larry Colton writes how difficult it was to publish this book; the story was too heartbreaking. I felt the heartbreak. I kept waiting for the little thread of hope to tie the happy ending together. I'd like to know what happened to Sharon LaForge Not Afraid, did she make it? I want to know she beat the odds, I hope she did. I reflected often on the cultural implications for so many youth and I wonder if somewhere down deep it explains a little of what happened to my fami...more
Interesting documentary of res. girls basketball. As best I can tell - it is based somewhere around an early 90's team. It was very well written and descriptive of life in Hardin - with the school 50% indian. I found myself quite angry and frustrated with "the system" and the whole reservation thing, but it was a pretty accurate portrayal of reality there and of his year there. "Counting Coup" is how young warriors would gain honor and respect. There are 4 primary ways to accomplish a coup: touc...more
I read this book for 2 reasons. 1) It was for a book report for one of my classes in college. 2) It was the first book I could find at the bookstore that was on the list for the book report. It is one of those stories that makes me realize what a privileged and sheltered life I live. It's really a great story about a girls' basketball team at a high school near an Indian Reservation. The general population is not well off, but they love their girls' basketball team! The book is written by a jour...more
I wrote a feature story on the first ever full blood Native American drafted in the WNBA, and in the interviews her coach told me this book would give insight to the cultural struggles of Native American's in athletics as teenagers. It was captivating, in a very sad way, that I finished it in a day. Not my favorite book, but certainly useful in understanding just how significant athletic success is to a woman coming from a reservation.
Everyone in America should read this book. Funny, powerful, honest, and heartbreaking stuff.
Sports journalist Larry Colson comes to the reservation to do a story on the boys' basketball team but gets sidetracked by the even-more-compelling story of the GIRLS' basketball team, particularly the story of one phenomenally talented but troubled girl.
What I love most about the story is how Colson, supposedly a dispassionate outside observer and narrator, gets pulled into the story almost against his...more
Sports journalist Larry Colson comes to the reservation to do a story on the boys' basketball team but gets sidetracked by the even-more-compelling story of the GIRLS' basketball team, particularly the story of one phenomenally talented but troubled girl.
What I love most about the story is how Colson, supposedly a dispassionate outside observer and narrator, gets pulled into the story almost against his...more
Larry Colton, a sports journalist, goes to Hardin, Montana with a burning question. With Native Americans from the reservation dominating high school basketball courts, why are there no Native Americans on the college teams? He arrives with the intent to watch some of the Indians play and get a feel for what's going on. He parks to watch some high school boys shooting hoops, they are joined by a girl, Sharon LaForge, whose playing almost instantly convinces Colton that the best basketball story...more
Larry Colton writes honestly and sensitively about the Crow/white girls basketball team in Hardin, MT, and Sharon LaForge in particular. This true story was moving, because we hope for Sharon against the overwhelming odds facing her. Colton's candid descriptions of her daily life make us aware of how difficult it will be for her to leave the reservation and make the most of her talent.
Living in Billings for years and traveling through Hardin to the Yellowtail Dam, I saw first-hand many times the events in Hardin, Montana. Also, I grew up near another reservation and live on one now and have seen and see the trials of the Native American and what alcohol does to so many. This book was very enlightening, interesting and sad.
The author summed it up best for me during his Q&A interview at the book's end by saying that he wrote about individuals and not as an anthropologist exploring culture. I would have preferred either the latter or a mix of the two styles, but, the former without the latter was missing something for me.
An easy and fun read if you're into basketball. Even if you're not a sports person, this story is about finding hope in something when everything else in life looks so bleak. A little bit of heart break. I found I would wake up and be excited to read about 30-40 pages each day. Simple and linear.
This was about a talented high school basketball player's struggles living on an Indian reservation in Montana. It was interesting learning about how depressing life is there because of alcoholism and political/social problems between the Indians and non-Indians, but not the best read.
Really good tale, but no one in book club could understand how the writer got so close to the girls (and we were all irritated by the way he talked about all the losses of virginity). I ended up knowing someone who knew one of these girls and I got to talk to her and it was great.
I loved this story! Sports, culture differences, high school students- what more could you ask for? It honestly made me sad when the book was over- I want to know where everyone is now! I hope someday there is a part II to this story for all those who are wondering!
A well-told story of sport, heart-ache, and sadness on the Crow Indian reservation in Eastern Montana. Beautiful, yet a controversial book and not well received by many members of the tribe. Perhaps Colton told too much of the story.
This was a great book, and I can't even call myself a basketball fan. I felt like I knew many of the girls by the end of ths book. The glimpses into Crow life were fascinating. I was rooting so hard for Sharon to succeed in life.
i read this some time ago - i think after seeing an excerpt in Reader's Digest. i really liked it (hence the four stars). a story about girls, about basketball, about fighting racism - all right up my alley.
A page turner. A focus on a girls' basketball team in a small town on the edge of the Crow Reservation. I don't know how well it protrays the Crow's cultuer since the write is a white journalist from Chicago.
A great sports story. A girls basketball team on a reservation in Montana, makes an unlikely run for a state title. An inside look at life on the reservation. I highly recommend this book!
Another life on the Rez story. Great story about Indian girls and basketball. I thought is had a good ending; my husband thought the ending was a bummer. Read it and see what you think?
Counting Coup was a book that started out relatively slow. It takes place in a small town of Montana that talks about the stuggles of Indian life on the reservation. The girls basketball players dealed with a variety of issues throughout the season. Long gone fathers and mothers dealing with sobriety. Scholarship offers never came in to one of the best players in the state who was Indian. Life on the resevervation was tough and and challenging for the Indian players as it really wasn't fair. The...more
Another of my all time favorites. Riveting on so many levels. The basketball saga. The story of the young girl. Racism. Ethnocentrism. Cultural diversity. Ignorance.
Really well done; I'm not a huge basketball fan, but this kept my interest the whole way through. It's impossible to read this the whole way through and not be moved. It was amazing the kind of access the author got, just by saying he was a journalist.
I never thought I could care so much about a basketball book, but this one is superb. I'm not a sports fan, but the story contained within will draw you in and won't let go.
Compelling and sometimes sad story of the Hardin High School girl's basketball team and their star player, a seventeen-year-old Crow Indian whose gifts are more than equaled by the challenges in her life.
Colton lived in the area for over a year and seems to have a gift for getting people to open up to him. (The one exception may be the team's coach, who never quite explains some of her strategies.) We see into the lives of a lot of people, their hopes and triumphs contrasted with the abject pov...more
Colton lived in the area for over a year and seems to have a gift for getting people to open up to him. (The one exception may be the team's coach, who never quite explains some of her strategies.) We see into the lives of a lot of people, their hopes and triumphs contrasted with the abject pov...more
Takes me back to my high school days at Colstrip Montana. Not much has changed in over 40 years and I find that sad. Go Fillies!!!!
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